In the Family
by Elburn
Summary: Hannah Spengler knows she is safe, so long as she is surrounded by her Uncles. Total fluff, and probably crosses the line into Mary Sue territory. Enjoy.


**A/N: **Yeah, another fic concerning people having nightmares. Seems to be my stock-in-trade, huh? I'm actually trying to deal with some personal stuff through writing this -- I keep having a nightmare about this kind of thing, and I kinda wanted to soothe away the anxiety and hurt it causes. It's a total Mary Sue, I'll admit. Ghostbusters has, admittedly, brought out that side of me. .; I'll try to rein it in a bit. However, it's also extremely fluffy, so... here's hoping it might comfort others in a similar predicament, or offer enjoyment to others. : )

**In The Family**

_by Fiona Conn_

"_...Mom?"_

_Hannah Spengler could hear what sounded like crying coming from somewhere in the house. A woman crying, to be exact. Hannah climbed the stairs steadily, furrowing her brows. She had never heard Mom crying before. What could possibly be wrong?_

_She knocked on her mother's bedroom door. No answer, but the crying was still there. Definitely Mom. Hannah peeked in. Sure enough, Mom was sitting on the edge of the bed. There was a photo in tatters, scattered across the bedspread._

"_Mom?" Hannah murmured, placing a hand on her mother's shoulder. She looked at the pieces of photo, and a sudden, sick realization seemed to line her gut. _

"_Hannah," her mother sobbed, "it's your grandmother." _

_Now Hannah knew why the tattered photo made her feel uneasy._

"_She's dead."_

_***_

Hannah sat bolt upright in her bed, her heart pounding. Nana was _dead_? A single tear streaked down her cheek. "No," she murmured desperately, reaching for her mobile phone. She couldn't be.... As she began to ruffle through her contacts list on her phone, that singular thought struck her, bringing heat to her cheeks and ears. No. Nana was certainly not dead, she was sure of it. But... the sickly feeling remained in her stomach. Nana might still be alive, but... how could she ever go back to sleep, with that feeling remaining?

She breathed in and back out, and glanced at the time. It wasn't long past midnight. Tapping her phone hesitantly, Hannah began to search through her contacts list again. Maybe Uncle Egon might still be awake. He was the nearest family member she had right now – Hannah was studying in New York, and was currently living on campus – so, she supposed, maybe he might have heard from Nana, and would be able to set her mind at ease.

Settling on his office phone number, Hannah pressed the dial button and waited.

***

"Ghostbusters – Dr. Spengler speaking. How can I help you?"

Pulling his head-mounted stethoscope off, Egon set it down on the desk next to him as a young, slightly nervous voice replied, "Uncle Egon?"

Egon blinked. "Hannah?" His young niece – daughter to his brother – rarely ever called anyone outside of her parents. He had provided her with his phone number in case of emergencies – and maybe this was one of them – but he had never expected her to use it.

"Do you know if Nana's okay?" Hannah asked, without pausing to make pleasantries. That was a random question if Egon had ever heard one.

"Mom? Oh, I'm sure she's fine," he replied. "What's the matter?" Hannah sighed on the other end of the phone. Egon frowned. It also wasn't like Hannah to be so tongue-tied. What on earth had gotten into her? "Has something happened?"

"I – no – I just..." He could hear Hannah blushing through the phone. Egon checked the time. It wasn't long after midnight. He generally preferred not to drive after dark, but...

"Do you want me to come over? I can bring your Uncle Ray as well," he offered. Hannah was silent. "Hannah?" Egon prompted.

After another couple of second's thought, Hannah finally replied. "Please... I'm real sorry to drag you out after dark, but..." Egon cut her off.

"I will be right over," he said.

"Thank you," Hannah whispered. "I guess I'll see you soon."

Egon smiled slightly, replied "you too," and then hung up the phone, before furrowing his brows. What on earth was going on with his niece?

***

It didn't take long for the Ecto-1 to arrive outside the campus apartments. Being so late at night, the roads were relatively quiet, meaning that Ray, for a change, had not taken to driving like a bat out of hell.

Ray pressed the doorbell. A couple of seconds later, he heard the chains being removed from the door, and it was unlocked, then opened. Hannah peeked out at the three men – Ray, Egon, and Peter (as he had been in the Firehouse at the time) – standing on the doorstep.

"Uncle Egon... Uncle Ray..."

Ray immediately turned on his most infectious smile and reached out, ruffling Hannah's hair. "Hey squirt, how ya doin'?" Hannah let loose a soft, breathy laugh, then stepped back out of the way, opening the door to let them in.

"You remember Dr. Venkman, don't you?" Ray asked, still smiling.

Hannah nodded. "Sure." She had met Peter a couple of times when she had dropped by the Firehouse to visit her Uncle Egon. He had usually been fairly polite, if mildly sarcastic at times.

"So what's going on?" Egon asked, looking down at Hannah. She bit her lip, evading his glance.

"Well... you're gonna think it's really stupid," she began.

"No, no! Not at all!" Ray replied enthusiastically. "Nothing's ever 'stupid' to us, you know that, right?"

This didn't seem to comfort Hannah. She grimaced, and then continued. "It's nothing really major, it's just..." She seemed to squirm uncomfortably where she stood, then finished lamely, "it's just that I had a really awful nightmare about Nana, and it made me feel.... bad. Real bad."

Egon blinked, furrowed his brows, and exchanged glances with Ray, who gave him a very puzzled look. Peter raised his eyebrow.

"Well, how about if we all go and sit down, and you can tell us about this nightmare. How does that sound?" Ray said. When Hannah nodded, he gently put a hand on her back and rubbed it as she lead them into the lounge.

Egon took off his jacket, slinging it over the back of one the seats before sitting down. Ray plonked himself down on the couch, and gestured to Hannah to sit next to him. She scooted over to him and curled up beside him as he put a comforting arm around her shoulder. Peter perched on the arm of a chair, folding his hands contemplatively.

"So," Ray prompted, rubbing Hannah's arm, "care to tell your Uncles exactly what you dreamed about?"

Hannah blushed. She felt slightly silly bothering them for something that was as small as this. However, the consequences of her gut reaction had to be faced, no matter how trivial she felt it to be.

"I was dreaming... about Nana... well, to be more precise, I was dreaming about Mom talking about Nana." Hannah paused, gathering her thoughts, ignoring the fact that her Uncle Egon was waving one of his PKE meters. It beeped softly as she continued. "I was dreaming that I was back at home, and it was during the day, and... I could hear crying, coming from somewhere. So I went upstairs, following the noise, and it was Mom." She took another breath and swallowed past the lump that was beginning to form in her throat. "Mom had this really old photograph of Nana, but it was all torn up and there were pieces all over the bed and... and she was crying and..."

"It's okay," she heard Ray murmur softly. He gently squeezed her. "Go on."

"And then, Mom turned to me and she told me..." Hannah took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice even as she continued. "She told me that Nana was _dead_."

"And how did you react?" Egon replied calmly, continuing to glance at his PKE metre.

"I don't know, I woke up," Hannah responded with a pout. "My first reaction was to check my phone. I was gonna call her and then, I thought, you know maybe she is okay, but..." She swallowed again, fighting the lump in her throat. _Damnit_, she thought, _I'm not going to start crying over something my brain cooked up while I was asleep!_ "All I know is, it really really spooked me," she said quietly, staring at the floor, her cheeks and ears beginning to burn again.

"Well," Egon said as he turned off his metre and pocketed it, "I'm not picking up any readings, residual or otherwise, so it's unlikely to be a product of vaporous manifestation."

"Thanks for clearing that up, boy genius," Peter replied sourly. "I'm sure that's exactly what your niece wants to hear."

"On the upside," Ray added, "it at least clears the possibility of some kind of telepathy being at play. Lack of PKE evidence means she's not psychic, so that should be of some relief." He smiled and patted Hannah's arm again.

"I told you you'd think it was stupid," Hannah asserted.

"Stupid? Nah," Ray shook his head, retaining his smile. "Totally understandable. Now that we've ruled out spiritual involvement, I'm sure there's a pretty good interpretation behind it. Care to enlighten us, Venkie?"

Peter raised his eyebrow again, and then leaned forward slightly. "Well, death in dreams doesn't tend to mean a death will occur in reality," he said, meeting Hannah's eyes. "It's only natural, of course, to be alarmed, but we mustn't get too distraught. Most interpretations will tell you that it signifies 'new beginning' or the death of whatever this person – your grandmother, in this case -- represents." Peter paused and cleared his throat, then smiled. "I think this is whole load of BS, personally, but who am I to say what you should believe? Could just be you're worried about your grandmother and miss her."

"Well, when you say it like that..." Hannah nodded.

Peter's smiled widened into something resembling a grin that could only belong to the Cheshire Cat. "He shoots, he dunks, he scooooooooooores!"

Uncle Egon rolled his eyes, but smiled. Beside her, Hannah could feel Uncle Ray's chuckle reverberate through his chest.

"Feel better now?" Ray asked, brushing a strand of hair out of Hannah's face. She nodded and was rewarded with a gentle squeeze.

"Thanks, Uncle Egon, Uncle Ray, Dr. V," Hannah smiled.

"All in a day's work," Peter crooned, prompting Uncle Egon _and_ Uncle Ray to roll their eyes this time.

Uncle Egon checked his watch. "How about I make some hot cocoa, like mom makes, and then we'll get you off to sleep, alright Hannah?"

Hannah nodded and stifled a yawn. Now that she was no longer so scared, she was beginning to feel very tired. She was also sure the warmth from hugging Uncle Ray was only making her more sleepy. This brought a smile to Uncle Egon's face as he got to his feet, then gently ruffled her hair on his way past her into the kitchen.

She smiled up at her Uncle, and then closed her eyes, resting her head on Uncle Ray's shoulder. Even if the situation was surprisingly trivial, she had to admit that she was touched they'd come to visit, to make sure she was okay. Nothing could hurt her so long as her Uncles were with her. That feeling of safety lasted through the cup of hot chocolate, and even after they left, knowing they were only a phone call away.

**END**


End file.
